A professional fisherman accused of torturing his deckhand, including making him swim across a crocodile-inhabited river, has been found not guilty in a Far North Queensland court.
Yarn Garrick Ward, from the small fishing community of Karumba, was on trial at the District Court in Cairns this week over the torture of Cairns man George Jelef in 2019.
It took the jury less than half a day on Friday to find Mr Ward not guilty.
Earlier this week Crown prosecutor Rachel Boivin told the court Mr Ward and Mr Jelef had set off on a one-month fishing trip to Gin Arm Creek, a remote river system near Karumba in the Gulf of Carpentaria, to fish for barramundi.
She alleged Mr Ward hit his deckhand over the head with a metal oar and "put him in a freezer and would not let him out for half an hour", and also made him eat raw fish.
Mr Jelef took to the witness box during the three-day trial, telling the court he was also made to swim across a river.
"He said he was going to break my legs … I thought he was going to bash the shit out of me," Mr Jelef told the court.
Mr Ward sat shaking his head in disagreement throughout evidence given by Mr Jelef, who told the court he slept on the beach and buried himself in sand in order to protect himself from mosquitoes.
Mr Ward denied assaulting Mr Jelef and suggested his deckhand was under the influence of drugs, which he said would describe his "erratic" behaviour.
The crew of another boat that was moored in the area at the time also gave evidence.
The skipper of that boat, Bryan Wilson, said he did not see anything untoward transpire between Mr Ward and Mr Jelef.
Eventually, 11 police officers, some armed with semi-automatic weapons, boarded the boat after being contacted by Mr Jelef's family, who were concerned for his welfare.
